Nail distributor



July 19, 1932. J BENJAMIN 1,857,566

NAIL DISTRIBUTOR Original Filed Oct. 24, 1,924 2 Sheets-Sheet l IllIIEHHJHILW lilllllili y 1932- J. M. BENJAMIN 1,867,560

NAIL DISTRIBUTOR 2. Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct. 24, 1924 220 20aFig.7.

mmmnm I mm F1318 A Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT orFrc jJOHN M. BENJAMIN, 013 BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOEMACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY,"A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY NAIL DISTRIBUTOR Original application filed October 24, 1924,Serial No. 745,684. Divided and this application filed October 15, 1925.Serial No. 399,847.

This invention relates to nail-distributors, such as are employed forsupplying nails in successive groups to an apparatus which is to insertthem. An example of an apparatus with which my invention may be employedis furnished by a heel-attaching machine. The

present case is a division of thatfiled in myname in the United StatesPatent Office on October 2%, 1924, this hearing the Serial No.

1 745,684. 011 December 23, 1930, the application became Patent No. 1,785,928.

An object of the present invention is to generally improve theefiiciency and convertience of nail-distributors. To this end, there I 1are provided novel means for applying power to drive the movableelements of the distributor, rendering easy their control by theoperator; an improved arrangement of nailholding drums which may supplysimultaneously diiierent lengths of nails, of raceways :1 j distributor;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line IIIIH of Fig. 1;

Fig. is a vertical section on the line IV IV of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of a nailseparator with the adjacentportions of the raceway;

Fig. 6, in a like manner, illustrates the lower portion of the actuatingmechanism for the nail-separatorsg Fig. 7 is a perspective View,enlarged, of the cam of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of a loader by which nails may betransferred from the distributor of this invention; and

F ig. 9 illustrates in perspective the. mount;

ing of the lower nail-drum.

v A heel-attaching machine which this distributor may supply includes aframe 10, upon which are mounted a jack 12 and avertically movable head14,,by which pressure is applied to the heels, to hold them in placeupon the jacked shoes during the nailing operations. Reciprocatingwithin the jack, through nail-tubes 16, are drivers 18, the nails to beinserted being supported upon the upper extremities of the drivers inthe tubes,-

and-forced by said drivers through the heelseat of a jacked shoe into aheel pressed against it by the head 14. For supplying nails to thetubes, I employ the apparatus of the present invention. r

Carried at thetop of the ing, whichis preferably. formed iii-upper andlower sections and 22, respectively. The first of these is shown assmaller than its companion, and is especially intended for holding thenails, one of which is included in eachlgroup to be driven. This singlenail may be of special form, as provided with a helical rib, or it maybe of different length from those contained in the casing 22. 'The upperportion of each casing may be provided with an opening normally closedby a cover 23, through which openings access may be had to the interiorof the casings, as for the introduction of the nails to be fed. Eachcasing is shown as having rearwardly diverge ing upper and lower walls,and just below the juncture of the walls of each casing are supportednail-conveying raceways 24 and 26, belonging respectively to thesections 20 and 22 and inclineddownwardly and forwardly through .slotsin the lower casing-walls. From the upper casing there is shown asleading one of these raceways, and fromthe lower, four, though thenumbers may be varied as desired. Surrounding the rear extremities ofthe raceways 24 and 26, respectively,-and closing these portions of thecasings, are naildrums 28 and Y30. The upper drum 28 is rotatableaboutaspindle 27, extending horizontally'from a supporting portion 29conveniently formed with the casing 20 and upon which the upperextremity of the raceway 2.4-

frame is a, casrests. To hold the drum in place upon this spindle, a nut34 may be threaded upon the outer end of the latter. At one side of thelower casing is pivoted a horizontal yoke 31, which extends to theopposite side of the casing, where it is normally secured in place by apin 32. This engages vertically alined openings in the yoke and inspaced lugs upon the casing. From the center of the yoke there projectsinwardly a horizontal spindle 33, about which the drum 30 turns. Whenthe yoke is fixed in place by the pin 32, the drum may be held in closeengagement with a finished face upon the adjacent end of the casing,thus serving as a closure for it. When access is desired to the drum, asfor removing the nails, it is only necessary to take out the pin andswing the yoke about its pivot. At this time, the nails may fall fromthe drum and over a lower inclined surface of the casing 22 into areceptacle placed to receive them. Upon a support 35, held horizontallybetween the opposite sides of the casing 22, rest the upper extremitiesof the raceways 26, this support having no extension upward or downwardto be engaged by the nails. The mounting of the upper drum is simple andsecure, while that of the lower entirely frees the multiple racewaysfrom supporting elements which might tend to interfere with the travelof the nails through them, and also facilitates the removal of the drumfor changing the nails. Formed about the exterior of each drum is aperipheral series of gear-teeth 36, with which meshes a pinion 38 fastupon a horizontal shaft 40 journaled in the frame supporting the casings, and driven by worm-gearing 42 from a vertical shaft 44. At thelower end of the shaft 44 is secured a friction-wheel 46, the peripheryof which rests against the face of the fly-wheel 48 of the machinesupplied with nails. Within the drums, blades or buckets 50 elevate thenails as said drums rotate, and

allow them to drop upon the upper ends of the raceways, to passtherethrough; The lower wall 52 of each casing inclines downwardly andrearwardly from the raceways, terminating at the corresponding drum, andfurnishing a chute by which nails falling from the raceways are returnedto the drum.

Each raceway consists of parallel walls forming channels 54, in whichthe nails hang carried by a shaft 60 journaled horizontally just withinthe curved forward extremity 62 of each casing, the teeth of the disksbeing in close proximity to and substantially concentric with the curvedsurface. The disks of both casings are frictionally mounted upon theirshafts, so they may slip when excessive resistance. is offered to theirrotation, as by the catching between them and the casingwall offragments of nails. Referring particularly to the illustration in Fig. 4of the disks of the lower casing, which are arranged in a series, ratherthan singly, as in the casing 20, there is near one extremity of theshaft a flange 64, while the other extremity is threaded to receive anut 66. The disks are spaced from one another and from the flange andnut by collars 68, also loose upon the shaft, and of a diametersubstantially that of the disks. This is to prevent nails from beingdrawn in between the collars and casing, and thus clogging theapparatus. At the center of the series, the shaft carries a looseworm-wheel 70, with which meshes a worm 72 upon the shaft 44. A spring 74 is interposed between the nut 66 and the end or head of the adjacentcollar, serving to press together the whole series of elements,including the disks, worm-wheel and spacing collars, with sufiicientforce to cause them to normally rotate with the shaft, but to allow theshaft to turn through them when there is undue resistance to theirrotation. The frictional driving force may be varied by changing theposition of the nut upon the shaft, thus increasing or decreasing theforce exerted by the spring. The shaft 60 of the upper casing mayreceive its motion from the upper shaft 40 by way of a vertical shaft 73and gearing 75.

As the nails proceed along the raceways, their shanks encounter in eacha device which separates the terminal nail of the series from itscompanions, and discharges it singly. As illustrated, each separatingdevice consists of a disk 76 (Fig. 5), the upper surface of which isinclined downwardly and outwardly. The disk is shown as so fixed upon ashaft 78, journaled at one side of the corre sponding channel 54 uponone of the race way-bars, that its upper surface is somewhat below thedelivery-surface of the raceway upon which rest the nail-heads. In thepe riphery of the disk is a depression 80, of a size suitable to receivethe shanks of the nails, one at a time. Fixed to the lower extremity ofeach shaft 78 is a crank-disk 82 having depending from ita crank-pin.The crank-pin of the single discharge device of the upper raceway 24 hasjoined to it a connecting member 84 (Fig. 2) while the crankpinsassociated with the lower raceways 26 are all united by a rod 86 (Fig.5), which is suspended upon them, being supported upon collars 88 fastupon the lower ends of the pins. At the center of the rod 86 is anenlargement 90, in which is a vertical slot to receive a pin 92projecting from the lower extremity of a vertical arm of a bell-cranklever 94 fulcrumed at the forward extremity of the casing 22. Theconnecting member 84 of the upper crank-disk is united to an upwardlyextending arm of the bell-crank lever. To a generally horizontal arm ofthe lever 94 is articulated a rod 96, extending vertically and guided ina bracket 98 (Figs. 1 and 6) projecting from the frame. This rod issectional, the end of one portion being threaded into another at 100.This permits the length of the rod to be varied, and thus the throwimparted through the connecting elements to the separator-disks, todetermine the extent of movement of the depression 80 in one direction.The amount of rotation of the disk in the opposite direction may begoverned by the contact of a nut and checknut 102 with the upper surfaceof the bracket 98. Rotatable upon the lower end of the rod 96 is a roll104, which is engaged by a cam 106, the manner of driving of which willlater be described. In the normal position of the cam, the rod 96 ispermitted to rest with the nuts 102 supported upon the bracket 98. Atthis time, the depression 80 in each separator-disk is alined with thechannel in a continuation of the corre sponding raceway, while thelowest nail of the series in said raceway lies with its head restingupon the upper surface of the disk, and its shank against thecylindrical edge. When the cam rotates, the rod 96 is raised, turningthe separator-disk until the depression is opposite the upperraceway-channel 54, so that the shank of the lowest nail enters saiddepression. Upon the passage of the cam-projection from beneath the rod,a spring 10'. joined to the lever 94 restores the separator-disk to itsinitial position. Therefore, the single nail, which has been thusseparated from its companions, is discharged,

its fall from the disk being facilitated by the inclination of the uppersurface.

From the raceway 24 and each of the raceways 26. the nails discharged bythe separating devices enter end raceway-sections 108. Since here thenails movesingly and under less momentum than the heavier series in theupper portions of the raceways, the sections 108 are more steeplyinclined. As a result of this, the single nails will not be stopped bythe frictional resistance. In each channel of the raceway-sections 108,in proximity to the lower vertical ends of the raceway-bars, is acontact member 110, by which the nails are reversed. This member has avertical wall 112. against which the shanks of the nails strike, and adownwardl and forwardly inclined wall 114, over which the nails slide,now inverted head downward, so they will be properly positioned forupward driving.

The thus-reversed nails fall into vertical conduits 116 between theback-plate and cover-plate of a tube-holder 118 (Fig. 1), this beingmounted vertically at the forward ends of all the raceways and receivingthe raceways 24 and 26 at upper and lower levels, respectively. Thelower extremities of the conduits deliver the nails to tubes 120 leadingto openings 122 in a foot-plate 124 supported upon the frame at a pointsomewhat above and to the rear of thejack 12. The arrangement of theopenings 122 in the footplate is in accordance with the nailing designcorresponding to the tubes 16 of the jack. The nails are temporarilyarrested in the o enings 122 by a shutter 126 sliding in guides againstthe under face of the footplate. A spring 128 surrounds a screw threadedinto the foot-plate. Said spring, abutting against the side of the plateand against an upturned end of the shutter, exerts its force to normallyhold openings 130 in the shutter out of alinement with those in thefoot-plate. Pressure exerted upon the forward portion of the shutterwill bring the two sets of openings into registration, so that the nailswhich have fallen through the tubes 120 may be delivered.

To transfer the nails from the foot-plate to the jack-tubes, areciprocatory loader-block 132 may be provided, it appearing inFig. 1of-the drawings. This is preferablv carried at the forward extremity ofa bar 134 moving between the walls of the frame 10 in a I line justabove the top of the jack. In its extreme rearward position, anadjustable stop-screw 136, threaded horizontally through a lug upon theframe, holds nailreceiving openings 138 in the blockalined with theopenings 122 of the foot-plate. At this time, an adjustable screw 140,threaded through the upturned end of the bar 184, strikes the shutter126, so that, when the loader-bar comes to rest, the shutter-openings130 open communication between the footplate and the loader-block.permitting the nails in the former tobe delivered. During movement ofthe bar in the opposite direc tion, as adjustably determined by thecontact of a sto -screw 142 which it carries with a portion of theframe, the nails are held in the openings 138, supported b a shutter 144(F 8} pivotally mounted to move across the under face of theloader-block. It is normally held to close the openings bv a latch 146guided by screws 147 to slide upon the block. This latch retains theshutter against the pull of a spring 148 tending to draw it clear of theopenin s. The spring is shown as extending between the outer edge of theshutter and the adjacent extremity of the latch. so that the shutter maynot only be drawn by it away from the loader-blockopenings, but thelatch 146 is also held in its shutter-engaging position. Threadedthrough the latch and projecting forwardly therefrom is a contact-screw150, which, when the loader is in its nail-delivering position, strikesagainst the rear of the jack. This forces the latch away from theshutter, releasing it, so that the spring 148 carries said shutter toits nail-releasing position. The shutter is reset to close theloader-blockopenings by contact of its edge, during restoration of theblock to the nail-receiving position, with a projection from the frameof the machine, indicated at 152 in Fig. 8 of the drawings.

For moving the loader-block automatically between its nail-receiving andnail-delivering positions, it has, formed at the under side of the bar134, a rack 154, with which meshes a gear 156 (Fig. 3) surrounding ashaft 158, which also carries the cam 106. The gear is about a sleeve160 keyed upon the shaft 158 and having a flange 162, between which andthe adjacent side of the gear is interposed a friction washer 164, ofsome such material as leather. The gear is thrust against the washer,and this against the flange, by a spring 166 surrounding the sleeve andabutting at its outer end against a collar 168 adjustably threaded uponsaid sleeve, so that the force of the spring may be altered. Thisconnection between the shaft and gear permits the former to drive theloader in either direction by continuously applied power, the frictionslipping when the loader reaches its limits of travel. Also surroundingthe shaft 158 are two bevel-gears 170 and 172, the former beingcontinuously rotated through worm-gearing 174 (Fig. 1) from a horizontalshaft 176 journaled in the frame 10, this, in turn, being driven byworm-gearing 178 from a vertical shaft 44. The gear 172 is continuouslyrotated in the opposite direction through a bevel-idler 180 meshing withit and with the gear 170. At the inner side of each of the bevel-gears170 and 172 is formed or attached a j aw-clutch member 182. Sliding uponthe shaft 158 into engagement with either of the members 182 is a clutchmember 184. The shaft is tubular, and contains within it a rod 186connected to the membef'184 by a pin 188 passing through a slot in theshaft. Fulcrumed at 190 upon the frame is a clutch-actuating lever 192having pivotally mounted on it a sleeve 194. At opposite sides of thesleeve are fixed to the rod, to communicate the movement of the lever toit, collars 196, 196. A spring 198 extending between the lever and framedraws said lever to the right, as viewed in Fig. 3 of the drawings, tonormally hold the clutch member 184 in driving engagement with that uponthe gear 170. Since, through the gear 170 and the pin 188, the shaft 158is at such time rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed from theright of Fig. 3, the gear 156 acts upon the rack 154 to move theloader-bar to the right (Fig. 1). The bar is thus held normally againstthe stop-screw 136, the friction at 164 between the shaft and the gearslipping. Upon the forward extremity of the lever 192 is a hand-piece orpad 200, situated at substantially the level of the top of the jack atone side and just to the rear thereof. This is convenient for contact bythe hand of the operator as he unjacks a shoe. It is desired that whenthe lever is moved to the left by the operator, so that the clutchmember 184 is separated from the gear 170 and brought against the gear172, the shaft 158 shall turn over once, to carry the loaderblock to itsnail-delivering position over the jack, the member 184 then beingrestored to its engagement with the gear 170 for the return of theloader-block to its normal position. To effect this, the lever carries adetent 202 mounted to yield against a spring 204. The detent is normallyheld by the spring 198 in adepression 206 formed in the outer side ofthe cam 106, which surrounds the shaft 158 outside the frame. Betweenthe cam and shaft is interposed a oneway clutch of the Horton type, ofwhich the rolls and co-operating contact-faces appear at 208 in Fig. 7of the drawings and which is effective in a clockwise direction (Fig.6). WVhen, by the movement of the lever 192 to shift the engagement ofthe clutch member 184, the operator incidentally withdraws the detent202 from the depression 206 and then releases the lever to proceed witha heeling operation, the cam 106 is at once started in rotation, as aresult of the turning of the shaft 158 by the gear 172. This carries thedepression away from the detent, so that the end of the latter now bearsagainst an annular surface 210 upon the cam, temporarily maintaining theengagement of the clutch member 184 with the gear 172. Under theinfluence of this rotation of the shaft 158, the loader-bar 184 is movedforward from beneath the foot-plate 124 until the stop-screw 142 strikesthe frame, at which time the loader-block-openings 138 are over thenail-tubes 16 of the jack. Then the shutter 144 is tripped, and duringthe delivery of the nails the friction at 164 is slipping. lVhen thedepression 206 again reaches the detent, the spring 198 is permitted todraw the lever 192 to the right (Fig. 3), disengaging the clutch member184 from the gear 172, and restoring it to driven relation with the gear170. The loader-block is therefore returned to its nail-receivingposition beneath the foot-plate, as has just been described. lVhen theloader-block leaves the foot-plate in its advance toward the jack, thedeparture of the screw 140 allows the shutter 126 to close thefoot-plate-openings. The cam 106 raises the rod 196 and permits it to belowered by its weight and the spring 107, actuating the separator-disksto release a nail from the series in each raceway. These are reversed at110, and descend through the tubes 120 to the foot-plate-openings.

Outlining briefly the entire operation of the apparatus, it may be saidthat nails passing from the casings 20 and 22 into the drums 28 and 30are elevated by the blades therein and received by the raceways,traveling along the channels 54 of these, suspended upon their heads,until they are stopped by the separator-disks 7 6. In transit, they areacted upon by the positioning disks 56, which arrange the nails properlyin the raceways and displace any which may be lying transversely.Clogging and injury to the machine are guarded against by the frictionalmounting of the disks 56 and their spacing and driving elements upon theshaft 60. As a result of the previous operation of the apparatus, groupsof nails have been discharged by these separator-disks and deliveredfrom the foot-plate 124 upon the shutter 144 of the loader-block 132,the shaft 158 of the actuating mechanism being driven through the clutchmember 184 from the gear 170 to hold said loader-block in nail-receivingposition. Because of the one-way connection of the cam 106 to the shaft158 and because it is engaged by the detent 202 of the controlling lever192, said cam is maintained stationary. The operator, in removing aheeled shoe from the jack 12, presses the back of the left hand againstthe pad 200 of the lever 192. This transfers the engagement of theclutch member 184 from the gear 170 to the gear 172. Opposite rotationis thereby imparted to the shaft 158, and the gear 156 now becomeseffective to move the loader-bar 134 forward. The retreat of the screw140 from the shutter 126 allows the latter to close the openings 122 inthe foot-plate. The direction of rotation is now effective, through theclutch devices 208, to turn the cam 106. This, through the rod 96 andthe lever 94 and its connections, oscillates the separator-disks 76 topick off a nail from each raceway and discharge it into the lowersection 108, where it is re versed by the member 110 and allowed to fallthrough one of the tubes 120 to the foot-plate. The cam there-uponpasses away from the rod 96, and the separator-disks are restored totheir normal positions. Meanwhile, the loader-block has been advancedover the jack, the alinement of the openings 138 with the tubes 16 beingdetermined by the stopscrew 142. Here, as the friction 164 slips. thenails are delivered by the tripping of the shutter 144. The operator,having actuated the lever 192 to start the supplying apparatus inaction, at once releases it, but the clutch-section 184 is for the timemaintained in engagement with the gear 172 by the riding of the detent202 upon the surface 210 of the cam. At the completion of a singlerotation of the shaft 158, the nail-delivering action has been fullyeffected. The depression 206 then reaches the detent, which, enteringit,permits the lever 192 to return to normal, carrying the clutch-section184 into co-operation with thegear 170. This moves the loader-bar 134oppositely, or to the rear, 3 until the contact of said bar with thescrew 136 alines the loader-block-openings with the foot-plate-openings,the shutter 126'being at this time moved by the screw 140 to alsoregister the shutter-openings with those of the block. Thepreviously-delivered charge of nails is therefore received by theloaderblock, and the apparatus is ready for the succeeding operation.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a nail-distributor, acasing including lower and upper sections, anail-drum rotatable upon each section, a raceway leading through eachcasing-section from the drum, and a nail-delivering device to which theraceways are connected.-

2. In a nail-distributor, rotatable naildrums having a casing formed inupper and lower sections respectively oo-operating with the drums, amember provided with vertically extending conduits, and raceways leadingfrom the nail-drums and connected to the conduit member at differentlevels.

3. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of rotatable nail-drums, a gearassociated with each drum, a verticaldriving shaft, a horizontal shaftcorresponding to each drum, and gearing between the driving shaft andhori- 100 zontal shafts and between said horizontal shafts and thedrum-gears.

4. In a nail-distributor, a casing, a raceway extending through thecasing, a supporting member mounted to swing upon the casing, and anail-drum rotatable upon the supporting member and movable thereby intoand out of co-operation with the raceway. 1

5. In anail-distributor, a casing having an open end, a racewayextending throughthe opposite end of the casing, a yoke movably mountedacross such open end of the casing, and a nail-drum carried by the yokeand closing the end of the casing, the drum in its closed positionreceiving the end of theraceway. i 1

6. In a nail-distributor, nail-supplying means including a racewayhaving differently inclined conveying sections, and a rotatablena1l-separat1ng device'situated at the juncture of the sections andhaving an upper nail-engaging surface inclined downwardly and outwardlyfrom the axis of rotation.

7. In a nail-distributor, nail-supplying means including a racewayhaving differently inclined conveying sections, a shaft rotatable at thejuncture of the sections, anda disk fixed to the shaft and provided witha recess arranged tojreceive nails one by one from the '130 lessinclined section'and deliver them to the more inclined section.

8. In a nail-distributor, upper and lower groups of raceways, anail-drum delivering to each group of raceways, a movable nailseparatorco-operating with each raceway, an actuating lever fulcrumed between itsextremities, and connections from the opposite extremities of the leverto the separators of the respective raceway-groups.

9. A combination with a nail-distributor having a raceway and a movablenail-separator associated therewith, of a nailing machine provided witha jack, power mechanism for moving the separator, a. lever fulcrumed atthe level of the jack and extending upwardly from its fulcrum to a pointadjacent to the jack where it is provided with a hand-pad,

a spring arranged to force the disks and'collars into frictionalengagement.

16. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of raceways, a shaft, a series oftoothed disks loose upon the shaft and respectively co-opcrating withthe raceways, a gear upon the shaft included in the series of disks, aseries of collars arranged to space the disks and gear, a springarranged to force the disks, gear and collars into frictionalengagement, a casing surrounding the elements upon the shaft, and adriving gear meshing with the gear upon the shaft.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN M. BENJAMIN.

and connect-ions from the lever between the fulcrum and hand-pad to thepower mechanism.

10. A combination with a nail-distributor having a raceway and a movablenail-separator associated therewith, of a nailing machine provided witha jack, a rotatable cam, a lever arranged to control the rotation of thecam, said lever extending adjacent to the jack and being located foractuation by the hand of the operator as he changes the relation of thework to the jack, and a rod movable by the cam and being connected tothe nailseparator.

11. In a nail-distributor, a nail-conveyor, a movable support, a seriesof nail-positioning members frictionally mounted upon the support andassociated with the conveyor, and driving means for the support.

12. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of raceways, a shaft, a membercorresponding to each raceway frictionally mounted upon the shaft andhaving projections co-operating with the corresponding raceway, andmeans for rotating the shaft.

13. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, a shaft, a member mounted upon theshaft and having projections co-operating with the raceway, a gearfrictionally mounted upon the shaft, a driving gear meshing therewith,and a casing extending over the disk and gear.

14;. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of nail-conveyors, a shaft,series of positioning members loose upon the shaft and respective-'erating with the raceways, a series of spacing collars interposedbetween the disks, and

